Leading broadcast company GMA Network and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) have renewed their partnership in providing the public up-to-date traffic reports after they recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
GMA Chairman and CEO Felipe L. Gozon and GMA President and COO Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr. signed for the Network, while former General and now MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim signed on behalf of the government agency.
The agreement will enable GMA Network to air live video of traffic choke points as well as ongoing news incidents such as accident scenes, flooding, fires, and public events such as parades and celebrity convoys.
Although GMA has been in constant coordination with the MMDA for all its traffic reports, Atty. Gozon still underscored the importance of the renewed agreement.
“I learned that we lose P3.5 billion a day because of traffic congestion. I hope we will be able to help ease the traffic somewhat by informing the public which avenues or streets they should avoid at certain times of the day by informing them through MMDA,” Gozon said.
MMDA Chairman Lim, on the other hand, said that the partnership will enable MMDA to better do their job.
“Ang commitment ng MMDA rito ay we will make available to GMA 7 lahat ng materyales namin on a non-exclusive basis. [Ito ‘yung] mga information tungkol sa trapiko, tungkol sa mga baha, tungkol sa mga aksidente at anumang sitwasyon na dapat malaman ng publiko.”
GMA will also be able to stream the same video content over the Internet on its web portal and its Facebook Live platform, so users can see the same on their mobile devices while traveling. The MMDA operates nearly 300 CCTV cameras, many of which are in high definition, in key locations all over the National Capital Region.
GMA’s new MOA with the MMDA is a renewal of an agreement that was first forged in 2012.